The main learning outcomes of the week are:

• Understanding the concept of academic writing, the argumentative essay, and how it differs
from other types of writing.
• Learning about the components of the essay with a focus on the argumentative essay.
This video discusses the features of academic writing which include:
1- Being a communicative skill.
2- Having an objective point of view.
3- Using formal language.
Explaining the argumentative essay
Argumentative writing involves convincing the reader with an argument.
The argument presents an opinion on a controversial issue supported by evidence such as facts,
examples, experts’ opinions or logical reasoning.
A good topic has two arguable sides.
Facts and arguments of preferences are normally weak choices for an argumentative topic.
Here are some examples of types of arguments which are not normally used in argumentative
essays:
Type of Argument Example Appropriate as a topic for an argumentative essay?
Preference Does Pepsi taste better than Coke? No; preferences cannot be supported with
facts, examples or reasons.
Facts Who won the World Cup in 2014? No; there is only one correct answer.
The opposing argument
When you write an argumentative essay, you must be aware of your audience. You have to
assume that the reader disagrees with you.
However, even if the reader disagrees with you, this doesn’t mean that he/she is less intelligent
than you. You need to be logical, objective and respectful and avoid attacking the reader with
statements like:
Anyone who smokes must be ignorant of reality.
Also, you need to consider and understand your opponents’ opinions; this will help in convincing
the reader. For example, you might argue that homework should not be assigned to students for
the following reasons:
Homework has little educational value.
Homework is time-consuming.
Homework does not develop any skills.
These reasons can be argued to be very good ones, however, you need to understand the heart of
your opponent’s argument, which might be that homework is as an important extension to school
work. You should address opposing views when making your argument.

The essay structure

It is common for students writing essays in English to write a three or five-body paragraph essay,
or more.
It is important to know how to write an essay with different lengths, which is what is expected of
you in college.
The reason is that academic writing should be based on arguments supported by evidence and
research results, which is what distinguishes it from other forms of personal writings and
narratives used in fiction.
This has to be presented in a formal structure, which is the only accepted structure in college.
Thus, you need to organize your essay into an introductory paragraph, two to three body
paragraphs which include the central ideas of your essay, and a concluding paragraph.
Think of it like a sandwich that you build with your own fillings (ideas).

The introduction
To make your introduction inviting and interesting, there are certain approaches which are
normally used when writing an introduction for an academic writing essay. There are four
main approaches when writing an academic introductory paragraph. Your choice of
approach depends normally on the type of the essay. The approaches are:
 The Funnel approach: The ideas in this approach move from the general to the specific.
Example:
There are many places to spend your time at in Riyadh. You may go to the cinema to watch
movies. Also, you can go to the malls where there are various activities to do other than
shopping. Moreover, there are many historical museums that reflect the history of Saudi Arabia.
In addition, there are many events held in every season that you can go to, such as football games
and circus shows. One of my favourite activities in Riyadh is going to the supermarket. In my
opinion, Danube is the best hypermarket in Riyadh to shop at as it offers fresh fruits and
vegetables, cleanliness, staff courtesy and good prices.
  The Turnabout approach: The ideas in this approach shift dramatically by starting with
a disagreement with the opponent’s idea and ending with the writer’s own views and
thesis.
Example:
Going to the supermarket is usually one of my nightmares. It is a routine that I wish I could
delegate to someone else. The supermarkets in Riyadh are an additional nightmare to the task
itself. The parking, the lighting and the crowd are among many horrible things I hate about
supermarkets. However, Danube is the best hypermarket in Riyadh to shop at, as it offers fresh
fruit.
 The Dramatic Entrance approach: The ideas in this approach are shown through an
example or a description of a scene that illustrates the writer’s idea.
Example:
As I entered the Danube supermarket with a very long grocery list, I was struck by the
cleanliness and organization of the entrance. After I went through the fruit and vegetables
section, I was impressed with how the meat section is tidy and organized. The smell of the
bakery made me keep looking for it throughout my journey in the supermarket. After I paid for
my items, I kept on comparing it in my mind with the other supermarkets in Riyadh. Danube is
the best hypermarket in Riyadh to shop at, as it offers fresh fruit and vegetables, cleanliness, staff
courtesy and good prices.
 The Relevant Quotation Approach: The ideas in this approach are explained through a
quotation of a famous or significant figure, followed by an explanation of the quotation
that clarifies the writer’s argument.
Example:
Prince Harry, Prince of Wales in Great Britain once said “People would be amazed by the
ordinary life William and I live. I do my own shopping. Sometimes, when I come away from the
meat counter in my local supermarket, I worry someone will snap me with their phone. But I am
determined to have a relatively normal life, and if I am lucky enough to have children, they can
have one, too”. This quote reflects how going to the supermarket is one of the simplest and most
enjoyable acts of daily life. This also shows how important it is to choose the right supermarket
to enjoy the experience. In Riyadh, Danube is the best hypermarket to shop at, as it offers fresh
fruit and vegetables, cleanliness, staff courtesy and good prices

1. Think of a topic you can write an essay about and use one of the above approaches to
write an introduction for the topic.
2. Write a draft for the introduction.
The thesis statement

This video discusses the importance of having a thesis statement in your essay as it:
  Summarizes the main claim and supporting arguments.
 Provides a guide as to what you will include in your essay.
 Includes the topic and the claim you are making (which must be debatable).
 Reflects your answer to the argument.
Structures for arguable thesis statements
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Your thesis statement should express your position on the topic.

It is important to keep it arguable and debatable.

There are certain examples of sentence structures you can use to ensure that you make your
thesis statement a debatable one. Here are some examples:

Subject + Should + Verb.

E.g. College students should write research papers.

Subject + Should NOT + Verb.

E.g. College students should not write research papers.

Can you think of other language structures which show that a topic is debatable and not factual?

Writing body paragraphs

This video discusses the structure of body paragraphs which must include:
Topic sentence (Topic + Controlling ideas (3))
Controlling idea 1 explanation
Controlling idea 1 support
Controlling idea 2 explanation
Controlling idea 2 support
Controlling idea 3 explanation
Controlling idea 3 support
Concluding sentence
Differences in essay types?
The structure of the body paragraph is generally the same among all essay types. However,
differences may occur among different types of essays in the content of these body
paragraphs. For example, each body paragraph in the compare and contrast essay would
discuss one similarity or difference between the items being compared. Moreover, each
body paragraph would discuss one example of the topic given in the example essay.

Think of the differences that might occur in body paragraphs based on the different types of
essays.

Types of Support in a Developmental Paragraph

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As you have seen in the steps before, the controlling ideas of the paragraph must be
EXPLAINED and SUPPORTED. As the purpose of your support is to convince the reader,
it can be provided in different ways based on the reason (explanation) you discuss:

1. Facts

Facts include data that has been objectively proved and accepted such as: statistics, historical
examples, and scientific facts. Note in the following paragraph how the writer used a scientific
fact to support one of his arguments:

Moreover, the dependence on technology caused the appearance of physical and mental health
problems. Sitting for a long time in front of the screen with limited physical activity could
certainly have an effect on health. Physical problems such as poor posture and sleeping problems
can directly result from the overuse of technology (Gustafsson et al, 2017, Bruni et al, 2015). In
addition, the psychological effects of technology reached both adults and children. For example,
depression and anxiety have been linked with the negative effects of technology. Seabrook et al
(2016) connected depression and anxiety with negative interaction and social comparisons made
through social media platforms. Anyone experiencing any of these effects must make serious
changes in their daily routines and use of technology to understand and avoid these harmful
effects.

Note how statistical evidence assists the writer in this argumentative paragraph as he is trying to
prove that electronic cigarettes are less harmful than normal cigarettes:

The first reason is that electronic cigarettes are safer than normal cigarettes. The main harmful
components of cigarettes are tobacco and the production of carbon monoxide, which are in much
lower levels in the vapor and liquid of electronic cigarettes. Additional proof for this is that
Public Health England have indicated that vaping is 95% less harmful than normal smoking
(McNeill et al, 2018). In addition, the addictive nicotine found in cigarettes is relatively
harmless; the danger of cigarettes comes from the other toxic chemicals contained in tobacco
smoke. This explains why nicotine replacement therapy has been used widely to help quitting
smoking. Thus, e-cigarettes are one kind of these nicotine replacements.

2. Examples

Examples can also be used to support the argument, however, their effectiveness relies on using
widely applicable and/or a sufficient number of examples. Examples can be external or from
personal experience. However, make sure the personal examples can be generalized to a larger
group.

3. Opinions of experts

The opinions of experts can help in supporting arguments. An expert is a person who has an
experience and knowledge in the topic because of his/her research or profession. However, you
have to quote their opinions using the proper quotation and citation format, which will be
discussed thoroughly during the next week.

4. Explaining the reasons

Whether you are using examples, statistics or the opinions of experts in your arguments, it
always needs to be followed by your own explanation which relates to the controlling idea of the
paragraph. Even the topic sentence of the paragraph needs to be explained and shown to support
the thesis statement. Thus, further explanations are essential to any part of the developmental
paragraph.

Have you ever struggled with feedback on the evidence you provided in an essay? Share your
experience with how you responded to such struggles in the comments section below and
provide feedback on the comments of others.

Refuting an opposing argument

We have discussed how it is important to understand your opponent’s main argument in

order to be able to convince him/her with yours. However, you should also demonstrate in
your essay that your points are more valuable.

Refuting an argument means demonstrating that although your opponent might have valid points,
your points are more valid.

So, you need to add a paragraph that acknowledges but then refutes the valid points of your
opponent’s argument, by showing how your reasons provide a stronger case.

You may start this paragraph with connectors like:

  Arguably…

 While…

 It could be argued that…

 Despite…

 At the same time…

Let’s examine the following refutation paragraph:

It could be argued that homework helps in developing skills such as time management and
self-learning and that that is allows students to revise what they covered in school.
However, this overlooks fact that these skills can be acquired by other means, as they are
not skills directly learned through studying and students may not be able to acquire them
through homework. This demonstrates the case that homework often does not teach
students any direct skills except for copying from books. As for revising what they have
learned at school, homework does not normally cover everything from the class and is
normally specific to only one point from each lesson. This shows that homework is a waste
of time.

Consider in this paragraph how the writer showed that each point in his opponent’s argument
was invalid and how he used it to prove that his own argument is more valid.

Thus, a well-structured refutation paragraph would normally include the following:

 An introduction to the opposing argument.

 An acknowledgment of its valid points.

 Showing why the writer’s argument is better.

 A statement concluding the paragraph.

To practice refuting a discussion, search the internet for English idioms that you can use to refute
arguments and write a sentence or two using them as refutation below. Here are some examples:

“A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”

“Fortune favours the brave.”

Writing a concluding paragraph

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Just as you wrote an introduction to introduce the topic, you also need to write a
concluding paragraph to end the discussion.

What you need to write in a concluding paragraph depends on the argument you presented.
However, here are the basic rules for writing a concluding paragraph:

1. Briefly restate the main arguments of the essay.

2. Restate what you wrote when summarizing the arguments.

3. Do not introduce any new ideas in the conclusion.

As for the argumentative essay, there are more choices when writing a concluding paragraph.
Generally, there are three approaches that include:

 Summaries: a conclusion may only summarize the main arguments of the essay.

 Calling for actions: a conclusion may also call for action from the readers.

 Proposing solutions: a conclusion may also suggest solutions for the argument at hand.

When do you think it is suitable to choose any of these approaches? Post your answers and any
comments you may have on the topic in the comments section below, and remember to also like
and reply to the comments of others.

Review of the week

In this week, you learned about academic writing, the components of the essay and what
you need to include in any argumentative essay you write at university.

Now that you have completed the first week of the course, let’s revise the main points you need
to include in any essay. They are:

 An introduction with a clear approach.

 A thesis statement that states your point of view (claim) and the reasons you will be using
to prove that claim.
  Developmental (body) paragraphs, each providing a reason that is backed up by support
and evidence.

 An acknowledgement and refutation of opposing arguments.

 A conclusion that summarizes your reasons and how you refuted opposing arguments.

 Critical thinking and writing

 95 comments
 This video discusses the importance of critical thinking as a skill used at university.
 To think critically when writing is to present a claim, and support it through arguments
with evidence. You need to use this argument structure in your assignments in university
in order to show that you provide objective arguments.
 Your point of view is your claim!
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 Your thesis statement is where the writer will read your point of view; it is your
claim.
 When you read a topic that you will write about, you need to decide what your point of
view is. It is a good idea to read about the topic before you decide what your claim will
be to ensure that there is sufficient evidence available for your claim.
 Additionally, your claim must be debatable and arguable. Let’s examine the following
two claims in the following two sentences:
 I liked the movie.
 Eating fast food is harmful to health because it causes obesity and diabetes.
 In the first sentence, nobody will argue with your opinion of the movie; it is not an
arguable sentence. On the other hand, many will disagree and provide evidence contrary
to your opinion on fast food.
 Thus, a good topic for an argumentative essay has two arguable sides. Topics that are not
good choices for an argumentative essay are arguments of preference, religion and
facts.
 Claims can be simple and they can be complex. Either way, the rest of your paper should
justify in detail and with supportive evidence the logic and reasons behind your point of
view.
 Also, the reasons you provide in your thesis statement must be logical to make your claim
logical.

Supporting your reasons with different types of evidence

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As the thesis statement will clearly reflect the claim of the argument (and the essay), the
remaining paragraphs must justify your point of view through reasons. Each reason should
be explained with supporting statements.

Each topic sentence must present a reason; this reason should be supported throughout the
paragraph in different ways. As you are trying to convince your reader with a reason, you may
use any type of support suggested by your reason. The effective use of the evidence will help you
write a better and more convincing argument.

How to support your paragraph reasons:

1. One of the conventional ways of supporting a statement is through facts. Facts include
statistics, scientific data, results of published papers and so forth. You can obtain these
kinds of facts through research.
2. Another way of providing support to the reason is through examples. The examples you
use should be typical to provide the support needed. You may use examples from
personal experience; however, these examples should be generalizable to larger groups.
3. Lastly, you may use the opinions of experts to support your reasons. An expert is a
person who is particularly knowledgeable about a topic through research, profession or
experience. Their opinion can be obtained through:

 Direct interviews.
 Quoting a book or an article they published.
 Using conclusions from the abstracts of their published work.

It is always important to reference your sources and use reliable sources. Using sources that are
not credible may weaken your argument and make it easily refutable.
Regardless of the support method you use, you must explain its relation to the reason and how
it can be used as a support. In addition, you have to explain its relation to the thesis (claim) to
also show how it can provides support.

These reasons together would form the full argument.

Using strong evidence

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We agreed that an argument is a statement regarding a topic that presents your point of
view supported by reasons and evidence. In addition, when writing an argumentative essay,
you need to acknowledge the counter-arguments and refute them.

Thus, it is important to be able to read the arguments of others and analyse them and the
evidence they provide in order to be able to evaluate them.

The first thing to start with is to identify the argument. An argument consists of the following:

1- The writer’s point of view.

2- Objective evidence.

After that, you need to examine the following things to ensure the validity of the argument:

1- Is the topic argumentative?

2- Is the argument objective?

3- What are the reasons and the evidence the writer use to support his argument?

4- Is the evidence used from reliable resources?

5- Does the writer mention any counter-arguments? “ you need to evaluate the counter-
arguments in the same manner to identify the flaws”.

6- Does the conclusion follow logically from the reasons provided?

To sum up, the criteria normally used are objectivity, quality of sources and logical conclusions.

What is hedging in academic writing?

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Hedging is the use of language to politely show that certain arguments are “claims” and not
facts and that they could be invalid.

Hedging are lexical devices that you can use when refuting opposing arguments after you
evaluate them. They show the uncertainty of the argument and soften the claims by using
certain words that show hesitation about their truth.

Hedging is commonly used in academic writing. Here are some examples of hedging words and
phrases you ma use in your essay when introducing opposing arguments:

According to…

May say..

Mentioned..

Pointed out..

Reference
Hinkel, E. (2002). Second language writers’ text: Linguistic and rhetorical features. Routledge.

Using language to protect claims

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The article below further explains the usage of hedge words to protect your claims in an
essay.

It compares two texts and why one is more academic than the other. This is explained through
providing words and phrases for hedging.

Read through the article to further explore these points:

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe-writing-centre/develop-academic-voice/caution-hedging

ow that you have completed the second week of the course, have a look at the following
points and evaluate your essay based on the:

 A logical and well-developed introduction with a clear approach toward building the
thesis statement.
 A thesis statement that includes a clear claim and clearly state your point of view on the
topic.
 Developmental paragraphs with topic sentences that include a topic and a controlling
idea. The topic sentence must state the first reason of your argument and the remaining
paragraph should provide evidence that strengthen your argument.
 A refuting paragraph that acknowledge the opposing arguments that could be raised
against your argument and how your reasons and the evidence you provide a response
and a better argument to these opposing arguments.
 A concluding paragraph that summarizes the main points of the essay, suggest solutions
and claims actions.
Using information from reliable resources

When borrowing information from external resources, it is important to consider the

reliability and credibility of it.

Think of the following statements:

 Someone told me that drinking lemon juice in the morning lead to weight loss.
 I read on the Internet that drinking lemon juice in the morning lead to weight loss.
  I read a recent paper on a pharmaceutical journal that through a one-year experiment they
discovered that drinking lemon juice in the morning lead to weight loss.

Clearly, the third statement would attract more attention as it appears as the most credible.
Similarly, when writing an academic essay, you should provide good information from reliable
resources. This shows that you made a professional judgment based on trustworthy resources.

The skills reflected from using external resources

As we have discussed, academic essays start with a claim in the thesis statement. This claim
must be supported by reasons in the developmental paragraphs and the reasons must be
supported by evidence.

And we also discussed how evidence comes normally from external sources. Using such
evidence makes your argument stronger, and reflects that you acquired the following academic
skills:

1- Reading related literature and evaluating the most related to your topics.

2- The ability to think critically and build strong arguments.

In the next step, you will learn different methods of integrating information from other sources.

Citation styles

Whether you are summarizing, paraphrasing or quoting the information from another
resource, you should always cite the original reference. There are different styles of
citations, however, the most frequently used are:

1. The Modern Language Association (MLA).

2. The American Psychological Association (APA).
3. The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS).

A detailed reference of all styles of referencing (APA, MLA..etc) of any type (book, magazine,
journal paper..etc) can be found at the Purdue OWL.

Your choice of the style depends on the subject of study. However, here are the steps you need to
follow to cite a source properly which will be demonstrated using the APA style:
Step One: Internal Citations:
When using information from another resource, you need to mention the name of the author in
the exact sentence you used the information at. In order to do that, there are two methods to
“internally” cite the name of the author in the sentence:

A. To mention the name of the author within the text itself and put the year of the publication
in parentheses. If there are two or three authors, list all of the names. However, if there are four
authors or more, list only the first author’s name followed by the abbreviation et al.

Example: One author: Almeshal (2020) concluded that… More than three authors: Almeshal et
al (2020) concluded that ..

B. To mention the name of the author and the year of publication at the end of the sentence in
parentheses. . If there are two or three authors, list all of the names. However, if there are four
authors or more, list only the first author’s name followed by the abbreviation et al.

Example: One author: (Almeshal, 2020) More than three authors: (Almeshal et al., 2020)

Step two: list of references (Works Cited)

In order to find or use the references you used within your text, you need to compile a list of
every reference you used in your essay. When compiling this list it is important to consider the
following:

1. Use the formatting explained in the Purdue OWL for a single, two, three or three authors
of books or any reference that can be used:
2. Order the references alphabetically based on the author’s last name.
3. Indent all lines except for the first line of every reference.
4. It is important to be specific and exact with any instructions regarding capitalization,
punctuation or italics.
5. Include citations of the media you refer to in your text such as films, Emails, DVD etc.
What is Plagirism
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In academic writing, plagiarism refers to the usage of words or ideas of someone else
without giving the credit and providing the source, wither in university essays, published
journal papers, or any form of formal writing.

Plagiarism occurs when you do one of the following:

  Copy the exact words of another writer without mentioning the source an claiming them
as your own.
 Rearrange the words in the original text only, even if credit is given.
 Use the ideas of another author or person without giving credit. Some general knowledge
information do not need to be cited’; that is, if the information can be found in more than
two sources, it is considered as general knowledge. But if the information is found in one
source only, citations should be provided.

You always need to be careful and follow the correct referencing methods to avoid plagiarizing
as it is considered stealing.

In order to avoid plagiarism, you need to keep the following in mind while writing:

 Learn about plagiarism so you don’t accidentally plagiarize. This can happen as the rules
of plagiarism vary between institutions.
 Record the source of every information when writing.
 Learn about the methods of using information from other resources (summarizing,
paraphrasing, and quoting).
 Learn the rules of citations of the style you are using in your writing and carefully
comply with its standard.
Organizing the ideas in the essay

Now that you’ve learnt how to structure a good essay, support your points with strong
arguments, provide supporting evidence and references sources; it’s time to make sure
your ideas are organised properly

As your essay should consist of an introduction, reason 1 with explanation and support, reason 2
with explanation and support, refutations, and a conclusion, there are two patterns to organize the
argumentative essay as follow:

Pattern A: Argument Followed by Refutation

 Introduction (with a clear approach).

 Thesis statement
 Reason 1 with explanation and support.
 Reason 2 with explanation and support.
 Refutation of your opponent’s most important reason.
  Conclusion (summarize, propose a solution, call for actions)

Pattern B: Argument Followed by Refutation

 Introduction (with a clear approach).

 Thesis statement
 A short summary of your opponent’s first arguments.
 Refutation 1 with explanation and support.
 A short summary of your opponent’s second arguments.
 Refutation 2 with explanation and support.
 Conclusion (summarize, propose a solution, call for actions).

Following one of these patterns ensures a logical and complete representation of the argument.

Ways to achieve coherence

In addition to organizing the ideas, you need to check that each idea follows logically from
the previous one.

There are two main ways to achieve this coherence:

1. The organization of the sentences and paragraphs, which you have covered on the
previous steps.
2. Checking that every sentence is related to the topic sentence of the paragraph and to the
thesis statement of the essay where key words and phrases are repeated throughout
the essay. This is achieved through the use of synonyms and pronouns as in the following
example:
3. The clearest indicator of the coherence of your essay is your usage of cohesive words
and phrases.